


homesick

by freckleboard04



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Apocalypse, Dystopia, Dystopian, Gen, Teenage!AU, and look where we are now, cult apocalypse, daniels back lol, had a dream with this plot and it gave me cc vibes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-07-13 18:35:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16023611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freckleboard04/pseuds/freckleboard04
Summary: The first summer passed. Then the next, and the next. Max wasn't exactly going there by force this time - gave him something to do for the next three months, and free food too - but something seemed wrong this year. Not just a 'shit's-more-boring-than-usual' wrong, but a 'we-could-probably-die-at-the-hands-of-our-cult-leader-ex-counselor' wrong.Jesus Christ, this was going to be a long damn summer.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is my first thing on ao3 so my formatting is prolly way off lmao. i write my shit in the drafts of wattpad and post it on here when its done
> 
> anyways enjoy this mess

The bus still smelled the same, oddly. The rubber of the seats still felt the same, too.

Max couldn't help but look forward to the campgrounds. Nikki, Neil and him had been skyping nearly daily looking forward to the day where they'd all be picked up, finally able to see each other face to face. His phone had been blowing up since he sent the message into their group chat that yes, the bus came and yes, he was in it and on his way to the grounds.

 **agent of chaos (tm):** when r u getting hereeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEE

 **nerd kid:** You are aware buses take time to move, correct?

 **agent of chaos (tm):** hey there pal! fuck off

 **nerd kid:** Jesus Christ

Max chuckled to himself quietly, sticking an earbud into one of his ears. Looking outside the window revealed that the bus was a lot farther along than he'd thought - now they were in what looked like a countryside with a big forest ahead. Maybe camp was a lot closer than he thought.

Either way, he didn't mind. Neither did his parents, who didn't seem bothered that the only heads up they got that he was going back to the camp for the summer was a note that he wrote in two minutes and set on the counter. Ever since his fourteenth birthday they seemed... different. Almost somewhat nicer. Max equated their behavior to a big brother who punched his little brother a tiny bit too hard and therefore was trying to act nice to them so he didn't get in trouble when their mom came.

He didn't have to think about that though.

 **angry blue kid:** r u guys already there

 **agent of chaos (tm):** yeah but neils still unpacking

 **nerd kid:** Stop talking shit in the GC when I'm literally four feet away from you.

 **nerd kid:** Also, I'm not unpacking. I'm just getting necessities out

 **agent of chaos (tm):** like ur test tubes

 **nerd kid:** Fuck off, man.

 **angry blue kid:** is anyone else there

 **agent of chaos (tm):** no actually

 **nerd kid:** It's really weird. I guess it still is somewhat early, though. David's wigging out about it lmao

 **angry blue kid:** ha

 **nerd kid:** We'll be chilling in David and Gwen's cabin when you get here, though. They're talking about something in the mess hall cabin thing

 **angry blue kid:** ok

And with that, Max put his phone back in his pocket, letting his head lean against the window. He looked at his backpack, considering fetching something out of it, but decided not to. There's not really a lot of stuff he could do on a bus with the things in his bag. Bringing his skateboard (which he saved up for himself as a self-given birthday present) out could only break a couple fingers, and there's barely any space in the bus aisle anyway. There's a notebook in there with a couple pens too, but he wasn't really in the mood to doodle. He couldn't draw, and God knows he sucked ass at anything to do with writing. So he just let it go.

Before he knew it, his head snapped up, and the bus wheels screeched to a stop. Had he really fallen asleep? Damn.

He was met with the ever familiar Camp Campbell sign, and two figures running down the dirt path that lead to the campsite. Max let himself grin and quickly shoved his bag over his shoulder, practically falling out of the bus as he staggered down the stairs.

Nikki let out some kind of excited squeal, and Neil seemed like he was about to drop to the ground in an asthma attack any second. Max ran up to the duo as a way to put the nerd out of his misery.

Almost automatically, Nikki wrapped her arms around Max, shaking him and giggling. "What's up, dumbass? It's about time you got here!"

Max, although very, very uncomfortable, let Nikki have her moment. He smiled slightly after a couple moments, and Nikki loosened her grip. Neil gave a small nod, still panting like he had just sprinted seven miles.

"You're so out of shape." Max said, flashing a shit-eating grin at Neil.

"Oh, fuck off."

The trio laughed (although Neil's was more of a vocal wheezing) and began to walk back to the counselor's cabin the two had kind of taken over in the time David and Gwen left them alone.

"Soooo? How was your sweet fourteenth? Obviously you didn't grow too much, but-" Nikki began to tease, interrupted by a groan from Max. She laughed at his obvious annoyance - it was an unfortunately well-known fact that yes, Max was the youngest and shortest of the group at 5'2. Nikki was at 5'4, and Neil took the win at 5'6.

Nikki's contact name for Max may or may not have been Fun Sized at the time.

"Shut your mouth. Got myself a board," Slugging her in the shoulder, Max let himself chuckle a bit at the teasing. "Nothing else too special though. Some friends from the neighborhood got me these tiny cupcake things, but that's it."

"That sucks. Your parents suck." Nikki said. She proceeded to laugh at her own words, looking at Neil as if she expected him to laugh. He simply flashed a smile at her.

Things had changed since they had gotten a tiny bit older. Nikki wore this black and red varsity jacket literally 24/7, with her name and 38 stitched on the back. She explained during one early morning skype call that she'd gotten on the girl's football team at her and Neil's school, and practically treated the jacket as her own child. Neil still wore turtleneck sweaters for God knows why and kind of became the living embodiment of 'your intellect is inferior to mine, normie,' but it was alright because Max could poke fun at it.

Max wasn't sure how he changed. He sewed a couple patches onto his hoodie to cover holes and probably needed a haircut. He started skating, too. But that was really about it. Nothing interesting. Nothing cool. Just average.

Eventually the trio got to the counselor's cabin. The cabin seemed to be split into two parts, like siblings sharing a room - with boy band posters and a charging laptop on top of a bed on one side, and a bed covered in campfire patterned bedsheets with a guitar on top of it on the other side, it wasn't hard to discern which side belonged to who.

"The fuck? They got a mini fridge?" Max said, heading his way over to the small plug in fridge on the floor. He opened it only to find it completely raided, with only some gross fruits and shit remaining.

"Yeah. Nikki already got to it." Neil said, throwing a glance in her direction. She didn't care or notice though as she was already in front of the TV in a big and puffy chair, watching a rerun of an early Dr. Phil episode. Hey, gotta work with what cable television gives you. And catfish stories are always fun to watch.

Suddenly, Gwen burst in the door, going straight for her belongings. "Kids, fuck. Get your shit and get in the bus."

Nikki shot up, turning around in the chair and standing on her knees. "What? Why?"

"Just do it. I'll explain it later," Gwen spit back, seeming panicked as she shoved her laptop into her barely unpacked bags. What the fuck, was shit already happening?

"But-" Neil started to argue.

"Neil, shit! Just hurry and get your stuff, fuck!" Gwen snapped. Max didn't want to test her temper once it came out, and gave Nikki a solid 'yo what the fuck is even happening dude' look that she returned.

The trio got their stuff together, Max and Nikki not having to do much. Once they had their bags secured, they were quickly shoved into the bus by David, who was definitely panicking over something. He still kept that stupid smile, though.

"David! What's even happening?" Nikki asked, once they were all settled in their seats. Nikki was practically stuck to Max by the hip, and Neil specifically said that he wanted to sit alone to nap, so it worked out for everyone.

"Nothing! Nothing bad is happening at all. Surprise field trip!" David quickly spit out, standing up in the aisle. He was obviously anxious and it was apparent that none of the three were falling for his shit.

"Oh come on, camp man, something's obviously up. You're acting like there's a fuckin' bomb in the camp." Max said, getting an agreement out of Nikki. Neil nodded at that.

"Yeah. You aren't too good at hiding, like, anything. At all." Neil added on. David, seemingly stuck and at a loss for words, was saved by Gwen and the QM suddenly getting onto bus as well, forcing David into one of the front seats. Gwen, carrying her bags like a purse and holding the mini fridge as if it were her child, quickly set the items in the seat across from David and went to the trio's seats. David turned his attention to the QM, beginning a conversation that Max instinctively tuned out of.

"Hey! Kids, wanna hear some funny jokes?" Gwen very loudly said after setting her things down in a random seat, looking at David who gave her a 'good job!' thumbs up. Max and Neil could automatically detect that this was, once again, a sad attempt at keeping everyone calm, however Nikki seemed pretty excited to hear a good joke.

"Okay! Here's a good one," She continued, loud enough to please David and to turn his attention back to the QM. Gwen quickly made her way to the kids that were sitting closer to the back.

"Listen. Do not tell David I'm telling you what's happening, just act like I'm making you feel better or some shit. He's not gonna tell you so I have to." She said through gritted teeth. There's the real Gwen.

"Well? What the fuck's going on?" Max asked. Gwen sighed, leaning her elbows on the top of a seat and pinching the ridge of her nose.

"We're not 100% sure yet but I know that it has something to do with that fucking weirdo David hired a few years back for like, a day," She explained, seeming frustrated with her own lack of knowledge about what was going on.

Max thought hard for a couple seconds, brows furrowed. Then it hit him.

"That fucking cultist dude?!" He spat, making sure to be quiet enough to where David wouldn't hear anything. Now that he thought about it, Max figured David was oblivious enough still to ignore it, but he didn't want to take any chances now that they were actually getting somewhere.

Gwen nodded. "Yeah. That fucker. After the dumbass accidentally poisoned himself he went to prison and managed to get out just now. Now there's some seriously fucked shit going on. Like, supernatural satanic type shit."

Nikki's jaw was dropped, and Neil was definitely freaked out even though he was obviously trying to hide it. Max, on the other hand, was conflicted.

The fact that he was a serial child murderer on the loose was definitely concerning and something worth panicking over, especially if he was coming after the camp with a vengeance. But that was a concrete fact. Max never believed in the supernatural aspect of things, and was actually still trying to deny the fact that the ghost kid situation a few years back even happened (what was his name? Casper? No, that'd be too obvious. Max couldn't be bothered to remember) but Gwen seemed pretty freaked out. David being freaked out was something that was understandable. But if the situation was so dire that it caused Gwen to go into protective zombie apocalypse mom mode, Max was quickly starting to doubt those once concrete beliefs no matter how much he hated admitting it to himself.

Goddamnit.

"So - wait, what. What does this have to do with us? Why do we have to do anything?" Max questioned, both conflicted and mildly pissed off at the same time. 

"We're not sure yet. We don't know, like, anything. At all. All we know is that whatever he's doing is bad and it's spreading around quick. David heard something about them being fuckin' brainwashed, or something-" Gwen spat back. 

"Like what happened the year he came here?" Neil asked.

"Yeah. Exactly. They're trying to get other people to 'ascend' too. From what we've heard they're pretty much fucking zombies," Gwen explained.

The four sat in silence, Max's thoughts still running at a thousand miles per hour. It wouldn't be concerning at all if they weren't acting like a damn bomb was about to hit. But the fact that they were taking action - especially like this - is what was getting under his skin.

"Is that why nobody else was here?" Nikki asked after a while, looking a little pale herself.

"I'm going to say yes, but David's not gonna admit that." Gwen replied.

Great. Gwen was their only source of information and she barely knew anything as of now. The lack of information was infuriating. Max sunk back in the seat him and Nikki shared and sighed.

"Once again, what does this have to do with us? Why are we fuckin' evacuating?" Max spat.

"Because we're going to assume the worst. If the camp is what inadvertently got him jailed, he's probably gonna come for us first. We have to leave." Gwen finally sat down in the seat in front of Neil, turning towards the other two kids in their seat. "We're gonna go to that general store up in the middle of nowhere to see if anyone's there or if we can sneak some food and supplies. David also has some plan to turn the bus seats into like, beds or some shit since we're gonna have to stay on the move."

"Ooh! We can be like all the DIY Pinterest moms! We can get Christmas lights up in here and everything!" Nikki chirped, sitting up quickly.

Gwen gave her a smile, but it wasn't exactly a happy one. Max couldn't name it.

"Anyways. Any more questions or something? I obviously don't really know shit currently so I'll answer the best I can." Gwen questioned after another notable silence. Neil shook his head, and Nikki gave a no. 

"Max?" Gwen's voice snapped him out of his space off, making him realize he'd been staring at the back of the seat in front of him for the entire almost minute.

"O-Oh. Nah, I'm good, I guess," He replied.

"H-Hey kids! We're gonna go and get some supplies for the fun camp activities me and Gwen have planned for today!" David suddenly shot up as the bus door closed and the engine hummed to a start.

"Shut up, David. We already know what's happening." Max hissed back.

"You little shit, the first thing I said to you was literally 'don't tell David I'm telling you this'." Gwen said through gritted teeth. Max simply shrugged and smirked.

"Hey, I don't have the energy to keep track of two storylines. Might as well get everything on the table." He replied, pulling his legs up on he and Nikki's seat. 

Suddenly, the bus jerked into movement. David nearly lost balance, his face pale. But seeing as what just happened, Max assumed the color from his face was gone for other reasons.

Overly cautious, David slowly made his way from the front of the bus, clinging to every seat like his life depended on it, to where everyone else was located. He sat across from Gwen, running his hands through his hair and sighing.

"Kids, we're gonna be alright! This is all to keep you guys safe, alright?" He explained, his voice soft like he was trying to comfort a five year old who just lost her favorite teddy bear. Max simply rolled his eyes in response.

"Okay, cool, whatever. Gwen said people were like zombies, does that mean I can hit people with a spiked bat? I've always wanted to do that." Max prodded, a smirk once again painting itself on his face.

Gwen face palmed and David looked anything but at ease. "O-Oh, gosh, Max. I don't think it's a good idea to give any minor a baseball bat with nails in it-"

"But it's a zombie apocalypse, David! We need to get into the role! It's a fight to the death we need to win!" Nikki chimed in with a mischievous smile from ear to ear. Max grinned at her enthusiasm. He knew they both were excited about the situation at hand for different reasons, but did it matter? Not really. Anything that would get him a spiked bat goes.

Neil lightly chuckled at that, and then started chiming in himself. "While I do admit the thought of Max with a spiked bat scares me, maybe getting weapons for defense is a good idea. If they're going to do anything to 'make us ascend' and we don't know where they're going to be, something to defend us would be pretty much necessary."

Gwen nodded. "Surprisingly, I agree with the nerd kid. We need to be prepared for anything." She said, turning to David.

David sighed. Max could practically read his mind - yes, it'd be a good idea because we need to be prepared, but is giving kids weapons the best idea?

When you're going up against a cultist turning people into zombies to kill other people who aren't zombies, is anything a good idea objectively? Everything's pretty much out the window, at this point.

"I... okay. Yes, we do need to get something for defense-" David began, to Max and Nikki's delight.

"But! Only the adults can use them and no, we are not getting a spiked baseball bat."

Max and Nikki sunk back into their seat.


	2. TWO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shit hits the fan at the end spoiler alert
> 
> enjoy reading this knowing my mother, who has watched and loves cc, is also reading it. mother and son bonding time huh

The drive uptown seemed like it took the entire damn day.

Nobody else was on the road. Not another car, truck, nothing. It almost freaked Max out, but at the same time it was nice. No cult zombies to deal with unarmed.

Suddenly, he got an idea.

Fishing the small notebook and a black pen out of his backpack, Max quickly opened it to a blank page and started scribbling in his horribly doctor like handwriting.

_'dude, if nobody's there to keep us from stealing you best fucking bet I'm making us spiked bats when we get there'_

He then quickly passed the notebook to Nikki's lap. She groggily turned upright, seemingly on the brink of falling asleep, then took the notebook in her hands. Max put a finger to his lips, telling her to keep it on the down low. She nodded, but still seemed like she was on the brink of unconsciousness. She read the note Max had written and started writing her own.

Max looked just past her to see Neil completely out, using his backpack as a pillow and taking up the entire seat as his bed. David and Gwen were sitting opposite to each other in front of Neil, and the QM was wordlessly driving. Damn, that guy was still creepy as hell. Max wondered how he was still even alive at this point.

Max was snapped out of his thoughts by a yellow notebook hitting his lap.

_"AW HELL YEAH hopefully we can use them soon that'll be badass :)"_

Max grinned at her response, giving her a hell-yeah-you-get-me-girl look. She smiled back at him as a response.

"Daviiiiiiiiiiid," Max whined, kicking his feet up on the seat in front of him.

"Yes, Max?"

"How long is this shit gonna take? I feel like my damn legs are gonna fall off."

Nikki nodded in agreement, wiping the sleep from her eyes. "Yeah, this isn't as fun as I thought it'd be at all."

David sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "Well, kids- this isn't exactly a fun situation to be in-"

"You know what'd make it fun? Spiked baseball bats." Max commented, making Nikki giggle.

Gwen groaned. "Guys, please don't be dumbasses. We're trying not to, you know, die here." Max set his legs back on the bus floor and crossed his arms.

"Thought we were going to try to be optimistic," He teased, smirking. Nikki grinned at him.

"Yeah! If we might die we might as well go out having fun and killing zombies." She added, eyes beaming. Max flashed a grin at her then turned back to David, who seemed more than conflicted.

"Yes, we need to stay optimistic and try to lighten things up. But I don't think giving kids weapons they could stab a couple eyes out with is a good idea," He said, voice soft like a disappointed father confronting his child that just scribbled on the walls with Sharpie.

"Whatever man. You'll be sorry when we save your ass with our cool bats." Max replied, looking at Nikki who looked like she was trying to repress a laughing fit.

Looking out the window, Max realized they were on the outskirts of the town he and his friends had been to a couple years back. The place looked like something straight out of a wild west movie. The thing that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up was the fact that nobody else was there. At all. All cars seemed deserted and Max could practically see the dust on the door handles of the stores. Shit.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw David get up and head to the front of the bus. Max turned to Nikki, hunching over a little bit and pulling her close.

"There's no one else here. I'm ninety percent sure that's fuckin' bad." He whispered through gritted teeth, hoping his concern didn't show too much. Now is not the time to be spilling emotions.

Nikki nodded, but a mischevious smile was pulling at the side of her lips. "Bad? This is just a possible chance to be like all the cool guys in The Walking Dead! Can you imagine that? We better be stopping soon. I've always wanted to loot a store,"

Her enthusiasm almost made it better. At the very least, Max had one friend that could make a movie scene out of a life or death situation. Although it wouldn't kill him to look at the situation like Nikki was himself.

... Nah. Now's not the time for self reflection. They had the chance to shoot cultists with shotguns and that was good enough for him.

Suddenly, the bus pulled over to the side of the road and screetched to a stop. Nikki responded to this by throwing Max's pen at Neil to wake him up.

"Wake up!" She yelled. Although Neil started stirring and she had accomplished her job, Nikki was quickly shut down by a more-than-concerned looking Gwen.

"Nikki! Be quiet! We don't want to have to kill these zombie freaks," Gwen said. Max was about to fire back with some sort of smart ass comment, but was promptly interrupted by David who made his way back to where everyone else on the bus was.

"Alright. Here's the plan, kids." He said, taking a seat again.

"We're looking for food first. Nothing that requires a lot of cooking. We can probably manage cans pretty well and if needed we could probably make some sort of make-shift fire to cook something for everyone. I didn't learn how to start a fire back when I was at camp for nothing-"

"Jesus Christ, camp man. Just tell us what we need to get so we don't die." Max interrupted. He was not listening to a whole new three hour long 'back in my camp days' tale.

"Just get stuff we need. Food, water if you can find any, and if we have time and we are safe we can look for stuff for defense." Gwen said, promptly getting up and heading towards the front of the bus. Nikki sunk back in her seat, crossing her arms and letting out a 'hmph'.

"Of course we can't look for cool guns and stuff first." She muttered under her breath. An idea hit Max's head like a ton of bricks and he couldn't help but smirk.

"Who says we can't? We'll look for all the boring stuff on the way. That way it looks like we're doing what we're supposed to." He whispered, making Nikki grin. A small fist pump was done in a silent agreement, then Nikki went back to pestering Neil awake.

"Nerd kid." She called, leaning over the aisle and shoving his shoulder.

"Mmmph." Neil responded by curling up into a smaller ball and groaning.

"Wake up, ya bitch."

"Noooo."

"Come on. We have to go shoot zombies."

"I don't want to. I want to nap."

"And I want a boyfriend but we can't always get what we want. Get up fucker."

Neil finally began to rise, stretching his arms and legs out the best he could. "Alright. Fine. Where the hell even are we?"

"That place that outlawed fun. Remember?" Max said, getting up and fetching his backpack with his board sticking out of the top of it. Nikki also upped to her feet, following David who was already almost out the bus door.

"Damn. When's the last time we've been here?" Neil asked, getting his bag over his shoulder and finally getting on his feet.

"I think I was like, ten."

"You're saying that like that wasn't like... four years ago." Neil teased as he began to make his way down the aisle.

"Fuck you, man." Max responded, catching up to him and playfully slugging him in the shoulder.

"It's because I'm Jewish, isn't it? Damn. Hate crimes are getting so out of hand these days." Neil responded, making Max crack a smile.

"I see. Accusing me of a crime just because I'm not white? Wow Neil, that's pretty fuckin' racist." Max shot back. The two laughed - something that was needed for the situation at hand. Took a tiny bit of weight off of Max's shoulders.

The two both stepped foot off of the bus onto the dirt that could barely even be considered soil. Nothing could grow here no matter how hard you tried. Damn, this place really was a ghost town. Max began to make his way to the group of four that had already gotten out, Neil following close behind him.

"There you two are," Gwen automatically started once they were apart of the circle.

"Now, we're pulling the buddy system out and you two shits are gonna stay quiet about it. I'm going to go with you three while David and the QM go off by themselves. Do not leave this town, and if anything bad happens, scream bloody fucking murder."

David grinned and responded with an enthusiastic 'yes ma'am!' as if he wasn't an adult too. The trio simply nodded to show their quiet agreement.

Max immediately went to Nikki's side, with Neil following behind him. David and the QM were already off on their way, heading to what looked like a hardware store. Gwen was leading the kids to what was seemingly just a normal in town supermarket.

"Okay, guys. Go for canned food first. Dried cereal is gonna be our best friend, too. Nothing you need to like, microwave or cook or anything." Gwen began, her voice now soft. Almost like a mom who's trying to damage control an obviously bad situation - as if she wasn't the trio's temporary mom already.

"And hey, you two little shits. I didn't want to say it in front of David, but if you guys find some stuff of use and want something to do afterwards, I wouldn't be too upset if you accidentally got your hands on a couple of shotguns." Gwen turned towards Max and Nikki, smiling. Nikki nearly started jumping in joy, while Max was grinning wildly. Neil looked an even mix of excited and concerned.

The four got to the supermarket doors, which were eerily unlocked and opened with complete ease. However, it looked like nobody had tried to open them for at least a week.

"Gwen, how long has this been happening? Do you guys know yet?" Neil asked, voice echoing in the decently sized store. Gwen simply shook her head.

"No, but I'm going to assume it's been a solid two weeks or so. Not long enough to become an epidemic quite yet but still long enough to know something's up." She answered, cautiously looking around.

The store was completely vacant and all the lights were off, leaving the only source of light coming from the outside. The tile floors seemed almost too clean and the shelves that were in direct sight seemed as if nobody had touched them for a while. The checkout in the front was abandoned, and the refrigerator containing some fishing bait like worms and bugs and the like had obviously been off for a while. It was a creepy kind of relaxing. An aesthetic Max felt at home in. He slid his beat to shit shoes across the tiles a couple times.

"I bet I could whip my board out and practice a little on here," He said to his two friends. Neil smiled at that.

"You would. Zombie apocalypse, let's go Tony Hawk in this bitch." Neil joked, getting an actual laugh out of Max and a grin out of Nikki.

Nikki spun one of the wheels on the end Max's board that was sticking out of his bag. "That'd be fun. Three sixty kick flip no scope!"

Max smiled at her. At the very least, he appreciated her effort.

"Hey, angsty teenagers, we're not turning this into a skatepark. But I will let you guys roam the store by yourselves. It's small enough to where if something hasn't happened when we walked in, I think we're okay." Gwen commented, looking at the kids. Nikki nodded.

"Okay! Ooohh, this has such a cool vibe to it," She began, grabbing Max by the hoodie sleeve and dragging him down an aisle. Neil followed close behind. Gwen began down her own aisle.

"Hello? If anyone is here you better show yourself or I will not hesitate to kick your teeth into tomorrow," Gwen said loudly, trying to prod out any potential threats. Nikki laughed.

"I'll punch ya. I'll punch ya hard!" She added, making Max and Neil laugh too.

The trio looked down the aisle they had begun to explore, met first with cans of green beans and mandarin oranges. Neil grabbed one and looked at the date on it.

"These don't expire until September. It's June now, so that gives us a solid four months. Help me pile these into someone's bag," He said. Nikki nodded, but a confused look quickly painted itself on her face.

"All of our bags are filled with our stuff though. Shouldn't we be able to find a good backpack here? This is a camping store." She asked, getting a nod out of Neil.

"True. Yeah, let's look for something to carry all this shit in first. Max, do you want to go find a bag? I can stay and find some good stuff in this aisle." Neil asked. Max nodded.

"Hey, that was my idea! I'm going with him." Nikki commented, getting a small smile out of Max. Neil simply had a blank look on his face as he shrugged.

"I mean, okay. If you're that set on it, I don't care. Just find something big. We're carrying a ton of cans in it, so it'll need to be spacious." Nikki gave a single nod, turning away from Neil who was already back to raiding the shelves. Max began to walk down the aisle, seeing what almost looked like a deli counter at the end of the aisles. The closer the two got to it, the more a horrible smell started to practically strangle them. Yeah, that was definitely where some sort of meat used to be.

Once they got to the end of the aisle, they were met with some standing racks in the middle of the space between the aisles and the cursed deli coolers. A couple backpacks hung on the racks, along with some paracord and other camping things the duo didn't care about right now.

"Oh wow! 40% discount too!" Nikki joked, getting a chuckle out of Max.

"40% off of zero dollars. What could be better?" Max jokingly asked back, heading over to the rack to grab an adult sized black bag off of it. Looking quickly through it, Max deemed it sufficent and turned back to Nikki.

"This is good. We'll get just one for now, but if we need another one we'll know where they are." Max said, getting a nod from her in response. She walked over to his side, but her eyes were quickly caught by something else.

"Ooh! There's cool shit down this aisle! Is that a holo pocket knife?" She chirped, quickly disappearing into the aisle. Max didn't mind her too much, and continued to take his time looking through the other bags to see if there were different styles with more space. It's good to weigh your options.

The smell of rotten meat caused him to resort to putting his yellow shirt over his nose. Jesus Christ, it was getting worse and worse the longer he sat there. Luckily, Nikki came running to his rescue.

"Max! Max! Come see what I found!" She came running back to Max's spot, whisper-yelling like she'd just won the lottery. Max didn't hesitate a second to grab a bag he thought would suffice, get up and follow her down the aisle, letting her guide his way. Eventually, she stopped.

She'd just found the damn jackpot.

In front of the two teenagers stood a rack of shotguns. Cases of bullets decorated both sides of the firearms. Max held the new bag out to Nikki, then took one of the shotguns off of it's rack.

"They're not loaded. They're definitely authentic hunting guns, too. Not that 'Teach Your Kid To Hunt For $25.99' type shit," He said, inspecting the firearm. He pulled the trigger a couple of times - an idea that was, yes, probably the stupidest thing he could've done but hey, no bullets came out so it wasn't a problem. Only a couple clicks sounded, proving that yes, the guns weren't loaded and they were safe to fuck around with.

"We should probably get going back to Neil," Max said as he held the gun over his shoulder, grabbing a couple cases of ammo off of the racks and putting them in his hoodie pocket. Nikki nodded, still starstruck by the fact she was in the presence of an actual shotgun. She followed close behind Max, who made his way down the aisle that they had started out in to see Neil sitting on the ground with two groups of cans on both sides of him. He looked up at the two, waving them over.

"Took you guys long enough! I w-" Neil cut himself off once the duo got close enough to him.

"Max." Neil said.

"Neil." Max replied.

"Why did you grab a shotgun?" Neil asked, making it sound more like a statement.

"Hey. We got a backpack too." Max answered, gesturing towards Nikki who shook the bag to prove it. Neil simply sighed, but Max could tell he was trying to hide a smile.

"Whatever. This is the stuff we can utilize. Help me get it in there," Neil said, pointing to the pile of cans to his left. Nikki nodded and sat down along with Max, opening their newly aquired backpack and stuffing their food rations in it as best as they could. Eventually, the trio had gotten a good amount cans (and more than a fair share of bagged cereal Nikki insisted on getting even though milk wouldn't be an option) shoved into the bag.

"Gwendolyn!" Nikki called.

"Yeah?" A response came from what seemed like the front of the store.

"We got food!"

"And a gun." Max replied, only to the other two kids. Nikki giggled.

Suddenly, Gwen made herself present at the front of the aisle the kids had sat themselves in, walking up to the group on the floor. Nikki held out the bag full of cans. Once Gwen had made her way to the kids and squatted down next to them to see what they had gotten accomplished, she looked pretty pleased.

"Damn, guys. This'll definitely be good for a start. You really cleaned out an entire damn shelf, didn't you?" She asked. Neil gestured to a shelf that was, indeed, completely cleared out, with just a couple expired cans left behind. 

"Yeah. I sorted the cans out while Max and Nikki found the bag and... that." Neil said, pointing at the shotgun that Max had sat next to him. Gwen looked more than disappointed.

"Damnit, Max."

"Hey! We got food and stuff too. Weren't you the one that agreed with the nerd kid in the first place?" Max teased, grinning. Gwen sighed.

"You got me there, you little shit. I don't want you going fucking insane with that thing, though. Do any of you three even know how to use a shotgun?" Gwen questioned. Neil and Nikki both shook their heads, but Max nodded. Gwen looked more than concerned.

"Hey, I get bored. Doesn't help my dad has like, three in our garage anyway." Max explained.

Gwen simply stared at Max with a blank look for a couple seconds, then snapped back to reality. "Uh, right. Okay. But yeah, you guys did great. This'll definitely help. I got a pocket knife and batteries. David told me he was going to try to find some walkie talkies in that technology store nearby but I don't know how that's gone." She added, taking the bag full of food and zipping it up, slinging it over her shoulder.

"Also, Nikki, you know we don't have any milk for this cereal you got, right?" Gwen questioned.

"Nah, I know. It seems like everything's rotten in here. You should've smelled the expired deli meat," Nikki responded, crinkling her nose.

"Oh, dear Christ. It's fucking horrible." Max said, getting up.

"We can show you if you want! I want to go see how gross the meat got," Nikki chirped, quickly getting up to her feet and vanishing down the aisle. Max facepalmed and Neil chuckled.

"She's more of a man than any of us is ever gonna be." Neil commented, getting a laugh out of Gwen.

"You don't gotta tell me twice. Come on, we better go find her before she eats it just to see what it'll do." Max joked, heading towards the back of the store.

"Guys," Nikki's voice rang. "Come here. Please."

Max's stomach dropped for seemingly no reason. She sounded a little concerned, yeah, but that was literally it. Why was his body suddenly telling him he should be anywhere but here? Although the blood quickly drained from his cheeks, Max swallowed the feeling and walked a tiny bit faster down the aisle. The smell was coming back, hitting him in the face and making his eyes water. He once again pulled his shirt over his face.

Once he got there, he saw Nikki peering down into the cooler in front of the counter. Okay, nothing bad. She's not dead or puking from the smell - that's good. But her face looked more than pale, and Max couldn't see anything but a pure anxiety in her eyes.

"Is it that bad?" Max asked, walking over to her side. 

But when he peered over the side of the cooler, it hit him.

A brunette woman who looked like she was in her early twenties dressed in all white clothing was laying in the cooler, motionless and not breathing. There was some sort of symbol on her arm, seemingly carved in as dried blood decorated the outsides of the lines, and as a dumbfounded Max studied her more he began to notice maroon stains coating her sleeve and the area around her chest. The smell was absolutely overpowering. Max tried to surpress a gag.

Holy fucking shit.

Nikki was absolutely frozen in her place and Max's legs turned to Jell-O. The two were quickly snapped out of their anxiety induced trance by Neil tapping Max's shoulder. 

"What are you guys l-" was the only thing Neil said before he too froze in place, jaw dropped. Gwen followed close behind him with Max's shotgun over her shoulder, a look of pure terror rushing into her eyes. Max could tell she was fucking terrified no matter what face she put on.

"Holy shit. What the fuck. Oh my god," Neil started to panic, quickly stumbling back. Gwen grabbed his arm, looking at Max and Nikki in the eyes.

"Get to the bus now. Stay low and do not make yourself obvious. Run as fast as you can to it. I'm going to stay back and talk to David and the QM," Gwen said, her face completely stone blank but her voice quivering. Nikki nodded, her cheeks pale. Max fished the ammo for the shotgun out of his pocket, practically tossing it at Gwen with shaking hands.

"You don't gotta fucking tell me twice," Max said, quickly turning around and speed walking out of the store. Footsteps followed behind him - even though he knew they were Nikki and Neil's, it still freaked him out to no end.

Before they knew it, all three of the kids were sprinting to the bus. Everything was a haze and Max's heart was racing. The town that once looked like the wild west turned to a simple blob of shades of brown and grey. Holy shit. They'd just found a fucking dead person. 

Max wasted no time getting onto the bus, practically jumping all three of the stairs. He ran to a seat in the back, throwing his bag to the seat in front of him and sinking into his own. Nikki quickly made herself comfortable next to him. She suddenly clung to him, linking their arms and setting her head on his shoulder. Max didn't fight it. Max also didn't fight when Neil shoved himself into the same seat as the two already were in. He appreciated the comforting physical interaction no matter how much he would say he didn't. 

He was also absolutely petrified, no matter how much he would deny it.

All three kids sat in silence, a pile of shaky limbs and shallowly breathing lungs, their only source of comfort being one another. Nikki had her eyes closed, brows furrowed, obviously trying to keep her breathing on track. Neil had just made himself comfortable by making himself as small as possible and leaning on Nikki. Max didn't know what to think. He didn't know how to think, he forgot how to breathe correctly, his legs and lips and head were numb and his mind was going a million miles an hour. There was only one thing that they all knew.

All three of them knew exactly who killed the woman in the store. What they didn't know was how to avoid becoming the next one down. And they were all fucking terrified.


	3. THREE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy halloween :^)  
> now things r really getting going, expect longer/more scheduled updates after this

After what seemed like an eternity later, the adults finally got back onto the bus with what they could salvage. None of the trio had said anything - the only thing that needed to be heard was the other's breathing patterns, proving that yeah, at least if they died on this bus, they wouldn't be dying alone. David was up at the front fidgeting with some radio that he had found, while the QM was starting up the bus. Gwen made her way to the kids' seat, holding the shotgun slung over her shoulder.

"Kids." Her voice was soft as the bus began to back up, ready to leave for wherever they were going next. Nobody could look her in the face or even muster up the energy to respond to her, making her give a small sigh in response. She sat down in the seat across the aisle from the three.

"Listen. We're gonna be alright-" She began, talking as if she were talking to a toddler who just had his favorite toy lost.

"Tell that to the lady in the cooler." Nikki snapped, her voice cracking. Max and Neil remained silent.

Gwen's eyes softened, eyebrows knitted in concern, but she didn't push anything. She simply leaned back and didn't say anything else.

It was starting to near around noon by the time the bus was officially back on the road, heading toward what Max thought looked like the city. He remembered this route from a couple years back, but he was conflicted on whether or not he actually wanted to be in the city right now. If the cultist freak had gotten to someone in the middle of nowhere, why wouldn't he go straight for a place with a lot of people in it? It just didn't seem like a good idea.

Eventually, Max spoke up.

"What are we doing now?" He asked, adjusting himself to try to get comfortable again. Nikki was still clinging to his arm, but she seemed to loosen her grip a tiny but. Max's legs were starting to fall asleep from the lack of movement.

"We're going to the city. See if we can find anything there. Particularly gas for the bus, basic self care things, shit like that." Gwen replied, sitting up. Max simply nodded in response, letting his eyes wander to the seat where everybody's bags were piled up in, except for his. Someone's bag was on the floor of the bus, someone else's about to fall off. Even if he did want to do something about them, he couldn't move, so oh well.

"Gwen! Gwen, I got it to work!" David's voice suddenly chirped from the front of the bus. He turned the radio up and was met with static, taking the microphone off of the side.

Gwen shot up out of her seat, nearly falling. "Holy fuck! Did you really?" 

David excitedly nodded at her in response, a cheesy grin painting his face from ear to ear. He held the radio up to show her that yes, that was where the white noise was coming from. Gwen let herself smile a little bit too, practically running up to the front to mess with the radio.

Neil started to get up out of curiosity, Max and Nikki following close behind him with pins and needles in their legs. Soon enough, everybody was crowded at the front of the bus, throwing out suggestions and channels to tune into to see if anybody else was out there.

"Which knob is it?" 

"David. It's this one. You're just turning the volume up and down."

"Oh. Thank you, Gwen!"

"... Yeah, David."

The group surfed through different frequencies of white noise, some being louder than others and some being 'slower'. It seemed like a solid twenty years before they finally came across someone's voice.

"83.5! Someone write that down or remember it or something! Hello, are you there?" Gwen spat out, swiping the microphone from David. Neil climbed over the seats behind him, scavenging in his backpack to find a notebook. He quickly carried it with him back to where everyone was, jotting down the number and holding his mechanical pencil, ready to write any other needed details at any time.

"Hello? Hello?! If you're there, say something, damnit," Gwen snapped into the microphone, quickly becoming annoyed.

However, that annoyance was quickly replaced with the familiar feeling of anxiety as a sudden burst of a deep growl came through the radio. It seemed to be trying to say something, possibly - but the audio was so morphed nobody could tell if it was even human.

Suddenly, the realization hit Neil like a rock.

"It's Latin! Wait, wait, wait," He spat out, quickly taking hold of the radio and turning it up as much as he could. After intently listening for a solid minute of the repeated phrases, he came to a conclusion.

"They're numbers, he's repeating the same thing. Hold on," He stated, setting up his own little desk on the seat he was in, sitting crosslegged with the radio in front of him and his notebook on his lap. David and Gwen sat in the seat across from him, Max and Nikki curiously looking on in the seat in front of David and Gwen.

After a lot of scribbling and frustrated glares at the radio, Neil finally came with a result. 

"I think they're coordinates! If I remember the numbers correctly, this should be it." He said proudly, showing the group in front of him the math done with a set of coordinates circled.

"Since when the fuck did you know Latin?" Max questioned.

"I mean, this is the same guy that brainwashed us a couple years ago, you don't just forget a language that was forced into your brain like that." Neil answered, chuckling.

"Hey! I got the juice thing too the first time and I can't remember Latin!" Nikki chimed in, eyebrows furrowed.

"You forgot your middle name, Nikki. You also thought it was 2015 a couple days ago."

"Oh, yeah. True."

Neil smirked at that and pointed at the coordinates circled on the notebook paper. "Anyways. 39.281439 latitude, -90.894943 longitude. Does anybody have any service on their phones? We can look that up and see where we need to go."

"I'm not typing in those numbers but you're more than welcome to use my phone," Gwen said, fishing her phone out of her pocket and throwing it to Neil, who quickly got into it.

"Wait, don't you need my password?" Gwen questioned.

"Nah, it's super easy to hack into these without a password. Practically child's play," Neil answered, opening up a web browser to enter in the coordinates. Max snickered at Gwen's obvious anxiety towards what Neil would find on her phone, causing Nikki to laugh too.

Neil quietly whispered the numbers to himself to keep focus, typing them in when they were needed. Eventually, he came up with something.

"It says it's in Clarksville, Missouri. Seems like it's in the middle of nowhere, too. The only address it's giving me is an unnamed road." Neil said, jotting the name of the town and state down.

"Well that's fuckin great. He might as well murder us somewhere where our bodies won't be found, ya know?" Max commented, not looking too pleased. Neil rolled his eyes.

"Don't be like that. We have a shotgun, and there's five of us against him. Unless he can summon demons from hell itself, I think we'd be okay in that situation." Neil shot back. Max gave a shitty look in response.

"I mean, if we're in this situation in the first place, I wouldn't put it past him." Max hissed, making Gwen shoot them both a look of pure daggers.

"Hey. Now isn't the time to be getting into shit, guys. We're trying to kill cult zombies, not each other." She snapped at the two boys. Max huffed and crossed his arms, physically biting his tongue to try to keep some snarky comment back. Neil shot him a look he couldn't describe.

Eventually, the group of five had spread out into their own spaces in the bus once again - Max and Nikki in one seat going off of each other's doodles in Max's notebook, Neil studying everything he could about the damn town in Missouri, while David and Gwen were up at the front of the bus with the QM making plans of where they should go and when.

The bus drive to the city seemed like it took an entire eternity. By the time they crossed the welcoming sign, the sun was beginning to set, which was anything but comforting. Max held back a shudder as he thought of what could happen if one of them was caught off guard in the middle of a dark abandoned shop. Not only that, but the best people don't live in the city - there were probably dozens of hobos and thugs waiting for someone to mug to come along as their own chance of survival. Max was really wishing he could've made those spiked bats before they found the lady in the freezer.

Eventually, with streetlights on and the street itself a ghost town, the bus screeched to a stop. Gwen immediately shot up, walking to the back with the kids.

"Now you guys are staying with me. I have one of David's pocket knives on me and we're going to go find some more weapons on top of everything else. We're already good on food, so look for stuff like first aid kits, basic necessities, shit like that." She directed, looking the kids up and down. Everyone nodded simultaneously.

"What about David and the QM?" Nikki asked.

"They'll stay here and watch the bus. We're lucky we didn't get it jacked last time." Gwen answered, turning around to talk to David and the QM. Max turned to Nikki and Neil, eyebrows knitted and body tense.

"I got a bad feeling about this. Even besides the cult zombies, you can't trust the meth heads out here. I guarantee we're going to run into some kind of hobo ready to stab us for any money we have." He said with a venom in his tone. Neil nodded, looking anxious.

"Yeah, I was thinking about that too. This just doesn't seem right to me. But then again I feel like we have more than a good reason to be anxious about literally everything... right?" Neil commented, fiddling with his fingers and diverting his eyes away from the other two. Nikki shook her head.

"What do you guys mean?! I always thought it'd be fun to beat up a rabid hobo!" She exclaimed with a giant grin from ear to ear on her lips. "Where's your guys' sense of adventure? You can't be afraid of getting hurt all the time or nothing's fun!" 

Max and Neil simply shot each other a look.

"Guys! Come on, we're taking the shotgun with us." Gwen called from the front of the bus. Nikki immediately shot up, practically running to the front. She waved Max and Neil up, still smiling wildly. Max sighed.

"I guess we could have some fun with this."

\---

The group of four found themselves in a hardware store, looking around for anything salvageable. The only thing that set apart this store from the last one is it didn't smell of rotting cult lady and it was nearly pitch black in the shop. The sun was falling quick and it was putting everyone on edge.

"Find a GPS or something like that. One that runs on batteries. We found a fuckton after we sent you guys back to the bus last time." Gwen instructed. Nikki simply nodded in response.

"Will do, boss lady!" She chirped, before running off down a pitch black aisle. It wasn't long before the three heard a crash followed by an enthusiastic 'I'm okay!'. Max pinched the ridge of his nose.

"You two. Find gas. Like the shit that comes in jugs. We'll need it." Gwen said to the two boys in front of her. Neil nodded, looking at Max with a 'please come with me' look. Max rolled his eyes, and although reluctantly, began to follow Neil down a random aisle.

The two took tiny slow steps as the already small amount of light began to get dimmer the more they walked down the aisle. Shuffling and small little exclamations of surprise and wonder were heard to the duo's side.

"This place is so cool! This thing is like a mini TV! Apparently it's called a Geepus." Nikki's voice popped up from a couple aisles away. Max and Neil looked at each other.

"Geepus?" Neil mouthed.

"I don't fuckin' know." Max responded, a grin pulling at the sides of his lips.

"Nikki, what the fuck is a Geepus?" Gwen asked from what seemed like the front of the store, a laugh threatening to bubble through her speech.

"What?! That's what it spells! G-P- Oh, we need this! Yeah, Gwen come here," Nikki's voice responded.

Jesus Christ.

About half an hour later, all of the group came out with their findings. A jug of gas for the bus (Max wasn't even sure it would work for the bus, but shit, it'd make a good weapon too), Nikki's GPS, and miscellaneous little findings and knick knacks Nikki didn't want to leave without, featuring a hat with the town's name on it and a bright orange cinch bag.

The four remained just outside of the doors to the building while Gwen's eyes scanned over the environment trying to hatch a plan. The sun had officially set, leaving only a splash of light blue against the black and cloudy night sky. Streetlights were the only source of light that were functioning and even some of them were flickering.

"Okay. The bus is up the street and to the left. I'll be the last one, but I want us to form a line. Dart it. Stay. Low." Gwen instructed, looking at the kids with a serious look in her eyes. Nikki nodded with a toothy grin while Max and Neil just quietly complied.

"Okay? Come on, let's go."

The four swiftly made their way back to the bus, dodging streetlights and staying close to the buildings. Nikki had lead the way, while Max and Neil simply followed behind, Gwen staying in the back as she mentioned to watch for anything suspicious.

Eventually, the four made it back to the bus unharmed and carrying useful objects, much to David's surprise. The ginger shot up once the four were in eyeshot and quickly waved, practically falling out of the bus to greet the group.

"Hey guys! Find anything?" He asked, seeming relieved just to see them there with no injuries. Nikki excitedly nodded.

"Yep! We found a GPS and this cool hat," Nikki chirped, pulling the hat with a pom-pom on the end of it on her head. David simply flashed her a smile.

Max and Neil made their way on the bus and dropped off the gas jug near the driver's seat, while Nikki followed close behind after chatting with David for a tiny bit, dropping off her actually useful findings with the adults to set up and making her way back to her friends. The three once again made themselves comfy in their seats, Max leaning his head against the window and closing his eyes, nearly blinded by the lights that were on the ceiling of the bus. Nikki sat herself down next to Max, bringing her legs up to the seat while Neil made himself at home in the seat across from them. The adults were up at the front, trying to figure out the GPS they had found.

"Hey Neil," Gwen called from the front. "What was the town it lead to? The coordinate things,"

"Clarksville, Missouri," Neil replied, not even looking up. "We can find the exact place later, but that was the town it lead to, so at the very least it'll be close."

"Thank you, nerd kid,"

"No problem,"

Max and Nikki snickered at that.

A couple minutes of silence passed until the trio heard satisfied comments from the three up front. They heard the GPS start up, giving a small jingle until it took itself to the main screen. Nikki, out of curiosity, got up and began to watch intently what the three up at the front were doing. Max and Neil gave each other a small look then got up and followed.

"Alright," Gwen said, typing in the address. "Michigan to Missouri. This'll be fun."

"You will arrive at your destination in - eight hours and seventeen minutes." The lady on the GPS repeated in her robotic voice. The trio groaned.

"H-Hey! We'll make this fun, okay kids? Think of it! Gas stations and rest stops are a whole other world at night," David chirped excitedly.

The bus coughed to a start, doing a U-turn to get on their way to the highway that would lead the six there to whatever Daniel and his cult wanted them to find. And for once, everything was actually quite quiet. David seemed to be getting anxious in the silence, so he shifted uncomfortably in the front seat him and Gwen shuffled into and spoke up.

"Hey, Quartermaster! Isn't there a radio? Tune it to something good!" He beamed, smiling. Max was too tired to let some snarky comment roll out of his mouth. He simply sat back in the seat he had made himself comfortable in behind David and Gwen, and let his eyes close. Nikki and Neil were in the seat across David and Gwen, having their own conversation. Everyone's bags were at the back, threatening to fall. Nobody really cared that much, though.

Wordlessly, the QM reached his hand up, flicking on the radio which was first met with a small static. After some tuning, the six were met with some low beat fifties swing music, something David was definitely happy with.

"There we go! That works. I love this music!" David beamed, grinning wildly.

Everyone drove in silence, listening to the soft music that created a nice atmosphere. Everyone was finally at ease - they quickly forgot about the situation they were in, seeing the situation as just a spur-of-the-moment road trip. That is, until the GPS started talking.

The QM turned down the radio to listen to the GPS once it started talking, however the words it was actually saying chilled everyone to the bone.

"Your destination has moved. Please stop."

"Your destination has moved. U-Turn."

"Your destination has moved. Your destination has moved. Your destinati-"

The voice of the GPS seemed glitched - mumbling, almost a deep gurgle. It definitely wasn't the nice Siri-like lady that had greeted them before.

Everyone (except for the QM) shot up immediately, staring at each other with wide eyes. Max let his eyes open, staring the GPS down. It still said they were on the right track - nothing needed to be changed. But still, it was chanting that odd phrase. 

"How the fuck can our shit move, dude," Gwen said, seeming more annoyed than scared. David and Nikki seemed worried, while Max and Neil were just confused as all hell.

Suddenly, the GPS's screen went blank, then reset like nothing happened. It automatically caught the bus's location and continued telling where to go and when. It seemed completely normal.

The air was thick and anxiety filled the vibe once more.

"Let's try to go to sleep, kids." David said nervously, but tried to keep a smile on his lips. Gwen shot him a look that just screamed 'you're going to try and sleep after that?!', but remained silent.

Max, Neil, and Nikki all looked at each other wordlessly, Nikki's eyes filled with concern and an obvious anxiety. Neil's brows were furrowed, trying to figure out what happened.

Max leaned back with a sigh, simply hoping that Daniel wouldn't get to them first. The realization officially hit him - this was real, it was happening, and there was practically no escape.

But Max would take on God himself before he backed down from this shit. At the very least, he was going to fix this for his friends.

Hopefully.


End file.
